Let’s Talk PERCEPTION and REALITY Today!

My office staff tell me that our phones ring regular with callers asking about how “our conditions are” at “this or that ski area”. I’m really not sure how that happens because we are clearly covering ALL of the ski areas via this website. However they do their best to handle a few calls a day that somehow make their way to us.

Late on Friday afternoon our office phone rang and I grabbed it and the caller asked, “How is the tubing going to be on Saturday and then next week?”

I informed him that we were not “the ski area” but SkiSoutheast. He said, “Oh, I thought I was calling Hawksnest. We’re headed up and with the temperatures we figured it might be a waste of time with the snow melting or gone.”

Of course, I informed him that it was 3° this morning and that all of the ski areas (and tubing hills) had been blasting manmade snow and that the conditions would be awesome for today and good through next week.

He thanked me but with some obvious doubt in his voice asked, “HOW is that possible (that there will be snow on the slopes next week) when the forecast if for temps in the 40s next week?”

I’m telling you guys that perception is a bitch. It REALLY is.

When I told him that the ACTUAL forecast was predicting mid-50s atop Seven Devils, Sugar and Beech WITH SOME SHOWERS in the forecast for Saturday and Sunday…he was more adamant in his disbelief as he responded, “Man I appreciate your allegiance to the resorts but there’s no way that the conditions will be good next week.”

I asked him why he was calling and asking if he wasn’t going to take my advice and I added, “The thing you have to understand is that there are FEET of snow on the ground and the OVERNIGHT temps from Sunday evening through the following weekend would allow for even more snowmaking and grooming.”

I left him with – “Since you’re coming up anyway – just have a great time and you can call back and thank me later.”

I’m not sure I convinced him to feel better about his impending trip to the mountains.

This is a common occurrence in SkiSoutheast land.

The crazy thing is that I would LOVE to be playing on the slopes today at about ANY of the ski areas in the region. Conditions are pretty doggone good-to-great across the region.

SOME NOTABLES…

Beech and Sugar, in traditional colder Avery County have not been able to get fully open all season. Beech is at 13 of 17 trails and Sugar at 14 of 21.

Cataloochee Ski Area has had it tough this season with water rationing and mild temps when they could have made snow. They are less than half open.

It is 30-40°+ warmer than Friday morning in several locations such as Canaan Valley where it was 2° on Friday morning. Now 44° this morning! It’s 27° milder at Sugar which is now 43° this morning. You do the math 😉

It was 11° Friday morning at Beech and it’s now 42°!

MASSANUTTEN SAID: We were able to make snow until 11:00pm last night before the warmer air arrived. Warmer today and tomorrow before more seasonal air moves back in next week.

OBER: Mogul Ridge & Upper Bear Run are open today!

100% OPEN: There’s ONLY TWO ski areas 100% Open.

Winterplace Resort with all 27 trails and…drum roll Snowshoe Resort with all 57 slopes and trails.

With that said, I’m cutting the FirsTrax report a little short this morning as I’ll admit that the forecast of 70-75° off the mountain hit me with a VERY EARLY case of Spring fever. I trekked over to the lake to check out my boats on Friday evening and that got me interested in heading over to Charlotte for their HUGE, annual boat show!

Mike is the Editor and founder of SkiSoutheast.com, SkiNC.com and ResortCams.com. Since September 1996 he has posted close to 14,000 posts, articles, photos and videos promoting all of the ski areas of North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.Mike is the father of four daughters, is an avid skier and enjoys golf, tennis, kayaking and hiking in the mountains. Winter snowsports and Summer boating on Watauga Lake are among his favorite pastimes.

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